E92I 

The Ally J»*t;fitM!i^ ^r WiK- 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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HoUinger Corp. 
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JUSTICE AND HUMANITY, NOT EEVENGE, THE 
ONLY JUSTIFICATION FOR WAR 



SPEECH 



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HON. GEORGE F. HOAR, 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1898. 



W^VSHIiNTOXON". 
1893. 



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1 



s p E E n 

OF 

HON. GEOllGE F. HOAR' 



The Senate having under consideration the joint resolution (S. R. 149) for 
thu recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that 
the Govornment of Spain relincpnsh its authority and government in the 
Island of Cuba, and to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and 
Cuban waters, and directing; the President of the United States to use the 
land and naval forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into 
effect— 

Mr. HOAR said: 

Mr. President: The function of diplomacy in regard to this 
grave crisis in the hi.story of this matter seems to iiave ended. 
The President tells us in his message that he has exhausted every 
effort to relieve the intolerable condition of affairs which is at 
our doors, and for the first time, by the consent of everybody, the 
matter rests with the American Congress for decision. It has 
seemed to mo to bo my duty, while the Government was engaged 
in diplomatic efforts, to abstain from i)ublic discussion. The Con- 
stitution having committed to the President from the beginning 
the conduct of our relations with foreign governments, 1 do not 
think that expressions of dissent or criticism arc quite in accord- 
ance with the duty either of American citizens or American Sen- 
ators while he is acting. The dutj* of action and determining the 
policy of this people now rests with us and our associates in the 
legislative functions of the Govornment. 

I wish to make a few observations which I fear and believe will 
be somewhat dull in the ears of my listeners, quietlj', rather in 
the manner of a court dealing with a great question of constitu- 
tional law involving in its results liberty and life and public wel- 
fare and public honor. It seems to me to be no time for impas- 
sioned rhetoric, for the clapping of hands, the stamping of feet, 
and shouting. I do not in saying that forget that the expressions 
of deep emotion which we have heard in this Chamber, which we 
read in the press, which wo have heard all over the country, are 
neither to be condemned or to be slighted. 

I am not one of those persons who find in them occasion either 
for sneers or for jesting. They are the utterances of good men, 
of American citizens, of the emotion which is felt and which all 
good men must feel when they witness great cruelty, great wrong, 
and when they are contemplating a great outrage to their flag. 
So, whether I differ or whether I agree with the conclusions, or 
some of them, to which these gentlemen have come, I have noth- 
ing but the profoundest respect for the motive which has brought 
them forth. 

I, however, Mr. President, bred and born in a cold latitude, would 
rather approach this grave occasion in the spirit of that captain 
who led the company of the people of my own birthplace to the 
s;23) 3 



bridge in the morniug of the Revolution, when he said, "I -went 
into that battle with the same seriousness and the same sense of 
responsibility to God with \vhich I am accustomed to go to church. " 
If in the providence of God this country is called upon to do a 
P;reat act of international justice, let us do it in the spirit of jus- 
tice, and not in the spirit of vengeance. 

The other day one Senator cited us, as if ho liked it, the utter- 
ance of the Scripture, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 
The Saviour cited it only to disapprove it and to give us a new 
commandment and a better doctrine. 

I am not one of those, either, if any there be, who would seek to 
divide and not to unite tlie people of this countr j'. If we are to en- 
ter upon a course of action where we receive the sympathy of the 
civilized world, let us not begin by re\aling each other. 

]\Ir. President, I regi-et, speaking for myself, that any Senator 
feels it to be his duty to indulge in harsh criticism of the President 
of the United States. What the President of the United States 
does in diplomacy the people of the United States do. There is no 
other means of knowing the opinion, purpose, conduct, character 
of tho American people under our Constitution, so far as that is 
expressed in our diplomatic and international action, than by 
studying and seeing what the accredited agent of the American 
people, the Executive, has done, just as there is no mode of deter- 
mining what the American people do or mean to do or desire to 
do in legislation but by the legislative enactments passed through 
their constitutional agencies. 

What the President of the United States did the United States 
did in the face of mankind, and what the President of the United 
States refrained from doing the American people refrained from 
doing in the face of all mankind. For one I approve him alike in 
what he has done and said and in what he has refrained from 
doing and saying. I like the President's holding back and striv- 
ing with all his power for a peaceful solution of this business. I 
like his holding out for peace so long as there was a hope that 
peace could be had with honor. 

Mr. President, do gentlemen, when they criticise this brave 
American soldier's love of peace — and every brave American sol- 
dier from the beginning of our history has been a lover of peace — 
reflect what war is and who it is that suffers by it? The persons who 
suffer by modern wars are not the men who provoke them or the 
men who are guilty of the causes to which they owe their origin. 
Every modern war is an additional burden on the poor man, the 
laboring man, the plain man, while the glory is reaped by a few 
officers and the profits by a few stock jobbers and contractors. 

It is not even the guilty Spaniard who is primarily to suffer by 
the terrible punishment which we are expected to inflict upon 
Spain. It is not the Weylers or even the Sagastas or the Blancos. 
It is the poor peasant whose first-bom is to be drafted into the 
military service, never to return or to return a wreck. It is the 
widow whose stay is to be taken from her, who is to get no share 
of the glory, but only the full of the suffering. This war, if it be 
to come upon us. is to add a new and terrible burden, oven if it 
be confined within the limits to which we hope it may bo confined, 
to the already overburdened and suffering peasantry of Europe. 
The results of a great war are due to the policy of the king and 
the noble and the tyrant, not tho policy of tho people. 

Every child upon the Continent of Europe to-day was born with 
3S30 



a mortgage of $:ioO about his little neck and an armed soldier rid- 
ing upon his back. So while I agree, as will bo seen before I fin- 
ish, that war may be necessary, and it may be necessary now, yet 
I can not myself agree with my honorable friend the Senator 
from Mississipjji [Mr. Money] when ho said so lightly that ho 
thought it was a good plan to have a war once in a while, that it 
prevented the dry rot of prolonged peace. A nation is made up 
of human homes, and the glorj* of a nation and the value of its 
possessions are in its humble homes. I do not agree with the Sen- 
ator who thinks that a homo is made better by the loss of its boys 
or the crippling for life of its head. 

I do not like what follows war. I do not like the piling lap in 
this country of thousands upon thousands of millions mure of our 
public debt. I have not read history like the Senator from Mis- 
sissippi in a way to leael me to think that war is ever a purifying 
process. The seasons which follow great wars, either in this 
country or elsewhere, are times of del)ts and jobs and disordered 
currency and popiilar discontent. The periods that have fol- 
lowed the great wars are the worst periods in history. If we en- 
ter upon this war, we are to subject our ships to many disasters 
like that of the-Vanieand our soldiers to pestilence and yellow 
fever. The destruction in the soldier who survives of the capac- 
ity for the rest of his life for the works of peace is a not insignifi- 
aint result even of the best and mostnecessary war.to say nothing 
of the increase of the debt and of the pension list. 

On the other hand, I have no patience and I have no respect for 
those critics who find in the conduct and action of many of my 
associates and friends on this floor what they are pleased to term 
a spirit of jingoism. The spirit which has inspired, without an 
exception, tifie impassioned and zealous speeches to which we have 
listened is the spirit of an honorable indignation at a great wrong 
and an honorable resentment for a great insult, and I believe 
these gentlemen who think as I do that the time has come when 
the armed forces of this nation are to be summoned to assert 
tliemselves have been guided certainly by quite as patriotic a 
spirit as I claim to be guided by myself, whether I agree with 
them in all their conclusions as to the detail of action or not. 

But I was saying, Mr. President, that I like and thank Presi- 
dent McKinley that he has as far as he could and as long as he 
could held back the impatience of the American people. Presi- 
dent McKinley and those who love him and stand by him need 
not be at all disturbed lest his fame may suffer in the eyes of hu- 
manity and the eyes of posterity by the caution and wisdom with 
which he has proceeded. The great events in our civic history 
and the great names in our civil history are those which are con- 
nected with the sublime self-restraint with which the American 
people has contained itself in the presence of great wrongs and of 
great provocations. It is true, also, that these civic glories have 
more than once cro%vned the brows of great soldiers and warriors. 

Have we forgotten that the same kind of speeches which the 
Senator from Washington permitted himself to utter, who seemed 
to think that he who represents half the State of Washington had 
a better right to speak for the American i)Cople than William 
McKinley, who represents forty-five States and 70,000,000 people — 
have we forgotten that the same kind of objurgation and contumely 
was hurled at the head of George Washington at the time of Jay's 
treaty, when he held back the mdignant people of the Republic 

dOQ 



from euteriug upon another war witli England? The fame of 
Washington is represented and typified by the loftiest of monii- 
inental structures as it rises in its severe and stainless beanty 
over the streets of the capital. Where, Mr. President, are the 
graves of his critics? 

Has my honorable friend from Washington forgotten John 
Adams's experience -uiien the people were clamorous for a war 
vrith France, and Washington was summoned from his retirement 
to take the head of the armies again, and our ministers had been 
dismissed with insult and contempt by the French Directory, when 
he sent Oliver Ellsworth and Davie and Vans Murray to reopen 
the negotiation? That act cost John Adams the support of the 
Federal party and it cost John Adams his reelection. But it left 
him his fame and the love and honor of his countiymen, 

Andrew Jackson, in the great desire of the Southern people and 
of the majority of the American people to acquire Texas, and in 
the midst of our great sympathy ^\nth that people, struggling then 
against the despotism of a people of Spanish blood, held this na- 
tion strictly in the narrow yet honorable path of international 
law. Now, everybody honors Andrew Jackson and the only thing 
that our friends have to say about it is to pervert the transaction 
and say that the General really did not do it. 

Mr. President, I am old enough to remember some of the tem- 
pests of popular excitement in Congress and out. I think there 
are Senators here who remember the cry of "On to Richmond! 
On to llichmond! On to Richmond!" and the denunciation by 
honorable and zealous patriots of what they described as the 
cowardice and treachery of Abraham Lincoln. I think people 
like to remember Abraham Lincoln's counsels in those days, and 
those of us who sit on this side of the Chamber wish we could 
forget Bull Run. 

You remember, Mr. President, the sublime patience with which 
we waited after the French invasion of Mexico until the time at 
last came, and Mr. Seward spake and the Frenchman got out. 
You remember, my colleague cited it yesterdaj*, the impatience 
of some good men at our dealing with the Trent affair, and my 
colleague cited the lines of Mr. James Russell Lowell: 

Ef I turn mad dogs loose, John, 

On your front-parlor stairs, 
■VTould it jest meet your views, John, 

To wait an' sue their heirs': 

I wish to remind my honorable colleague, with whom I suppose 
I am so fortunate as to agree as to everything of substance relating 
to this political crisis, that we did not take the advice of Mr. James 
Russell Lov\'ell on that occasion. We took the advice pf Abraham 
Lincoln, and William H. Seward, and Charles Sumner, and John 
Andrew, and on the whole we came out about as well. 

^Ir. President, some of us remember President Grant's dealings 
VfiUi the same sort of conditions that we have had to deal with in 
the Island of Cuba in the last two years. I came first into public 
life just as that matter was going on. We did not throw law 
books at each other's heads in those days in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, but there was quite as mucli angry speech for the Presi- 
dent as we have heard in cither Hinise of Congress within a few 
days. But the groat fame of Ulysses Grant shines in the sky like 
a star, and the conduct of that affair is one of the brightest and 
8?39 



strongest of his claims to the gratitude and affection of the Amer- 
ican people. 

I think it is perhaps because I am getting old and thin blooded 
and losing my pluck in these matters. But, somehow or other, I 
like, when I read the history of the Repu1)lic, to read the story of 
these sublime self-restraints, for which those men who hato pop* 
ular government think a gi-eat and free people are incapable. 

Do you remember how we submitted year after year to the fit- 
ting out in England of the war ships which drove our commerco 
from the seas till at last one mOrning, Mr. Adams, having discov- 
ci-ed that the rams were about to go out from Laird's shipyard, 
wrote a letter to Lord John Russell expostulating? Lord Russell 
replied that ho had consulted Her Majesty's ministers and really 
they did not think they could do anything about it. Mr. Adams, 
when the time came, replied in a single sentence, which to my 
taste is the most sublime utterance in American literature: "It is 
superfluous to observe to your lordship that this is war." And 
the rams were stopped in an hour. 

I also agree with the President of the United States in his re- 
fusal to recognize belligerency up to this time. I do not agree 
with my honorable friend from Ohio [Mr. Foraker], who thought 
the result of that was that we policed our shores in the interest of 
Spain. That recognition of belligerency, in my opinion, would 
have simply given Spain the right to search our ships: would 
have released her from responsibility for actions like the destx'uc- 
tiou of the -Uaj/iC. imless they could be traced affirmatively and 
clearly to her, and would have done the insurgents no sort of good 
whatever. 

Mr. President, what has been the result, what is the result to- 
day, of the conduct of this matter by President McKinley so far? 
I have not time to go, as I should like, into a full discussion of 
this matter, but I wish to read one testimonial only. I do not 
often read newspapers in the Senate, and ordinarily we all agrea 
that it is not a very good practice, but I wish to read the testimony 
of the ablest, most consistent, most thoroughgoing advocate of 
an instant and an extreme dealing with Spain in this emergency 
in regard to what has been the effect of the policy which the pres- 
ent Executive has pursued thus far. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. The Senator from Massachusetts 
will suspend a moment. The hour of 2 o'clock having arrived, 
the Chair lays before the Senate the unfinished business, which 
is Senate bill 20S0. 

Mr. GALLIXGER. I ask unanimous consent that the unfin- 
ished business be temporarily laid aside. 

The VICE-PRESIDENT. Is there any objection to the request? 
The Chair hears none, and unanimous consent is given. The 
Senator from Massachusetts will proceed. 

Mr. HOAR. I read. Mr. President, from the New York Sun of 
April 5, and not much has happened to excite my honorable friend 
from Washington since then, with the exception wliich I shall 
speak of presently. 

The delay thus far— 

Says this organ of the cause of liberty in Cuba- 
has served the cause of the rit;ht. It has Rivoii timo for military and naval 
preparation for decisive action. It has consolidated jmblic opinion and put 
the nation behind the President in his ci institutional capacity of Connnande:: 
in Chief of the laud and sea forcosof tho t'liiti-d States. It has i)orniittiMl the 
escape of some of the vai)or that precedes deliberate and calm action in an 
3239 



affair of momcutons importance. It has likewise enabled the President to 
oxbaust. as it was his duty to employ and exhaust, the resources of diplomacy 
in order to briujr about, if possible, an honorable and satisfactoi-y settlement 
without resort to arms. 

Now, I -would like to ask these gentlemen who are so anxious 
to fmd treachery and cowardice and want of patriotism and want 
of honor in the President of the United States, the Pi-esident of 
their own party, whether in the face of such a testimonial as that 
it is not just barely possible that President IvIcKinley may have 
been right and that they may have been wrong. 

There is another result which has come from this diplomatic 
action and this striving to keep in the patlis of peace. We have, 
what we never have had in any international conflict before, 
largely the sympathy of all foreign nations and almost wholly the 
sympathy of that nation on earth which is alike the freest, the 
most powerful, and the most nearly allied to us by language, 
history, and blood. 

I would like to have read as a part of my remarks an extract 
from the London Times. Mr. President, these gentlemen may, 
if they choose and if they are so disposed, undervalue in this great 
crisis'the sympathy of the most powerful nation on the face of the 
earth. I think we may perhaps like to have it before we get 
through. The sympathy of that countt-y on the other side pro- 
longed what would have been a one or two years" war to a four j'ear s 
or five years' war within the memory of most of us. I will ask 
the Secretary to read what I have marked. Undoubtedly this 
paper expresses the sentiment of the entire people of Great Britain. 

The Secretary read as follows: 

Wo can not refuse our sympathy to the people of the United States in cir- 
cumstances which would have made it difficult even for our own country- 
men to preserve their boasted calm. We should have needed all our seil- 
conimand to combine dignity with equity in such a trying position. It is 
bare justice to say that however inescusablo the lan^age of some of the 
newspapers of the United States may have been, the attitude of President 
McKinley is equally dignified and fair. 

In this matter, v/-hatever disagi-eements we may have had from time to 
time with our trans- Atlantic kinsmen, our sympathies are on their side. Wo 
share their gi-ief at the loss under such ciniel conditions of a noble vessel of 
war and a gallant crew. Wo admire the patience and tlie reserve of a demo- 
cratic government in circumstances of provocation, in the presence of pub- 
lic escftement which it would only have been too easy to fan into a ilame of 
war. The sentiments with which tlie majority of the people of the United 
Kingdom regard the people of the United States, and which we trust, in spite 
of passing gusts of temper, are reciprocated at heart on the other side of the 
Atlantic, are expressed in the cordial verses of the poet laureate, which wo 
print in another column. 

Mr. HOAR. Now, Mr. President, I affirm, and I challenge con- 
tradiction, that that sympathy and that expression of respect has 
been won for us largely, if not wholly, by the diplomatic bearing 
and conduct of the President of the United States in this emer- 
gency. 

I also desire to express my full and hearty concurrence with 
the President of the United States when he advises against the 
recognition of the insurgent government, if it be a government, 
now. Consul-Gcncral Lee says he has never thought the insur- 
gents had anything but the skeleton of a government. I will not 
repeat the citations from international law and from the utter- 
ances of our statesmen and department of foreign affaii's through- 
out the whole of the other Spanish couflicts in the Spanish- Amer- 
ican countries which I have had occasion long ago to cite. 



I aftinn that to recognize that people now can not bo done witli- 
ont disowning our whole history, without declaring tliat EnghinU 
was right and that wo were ^v^ong in the great controversy as to 
her conduct in the time of the rebellion, where there wore eleven 
States, ^^'ith a constitution, with coiu'ts. confederated into a re- 
public; and yet we claimed, and England yielded, that she had no 
right to recognize thoir independency. Wo can not recognize 
that indejiendency, as I say, without llj'ing in the face of our 
whole diplomatic history. Before this discussion is over it may 
bo desirable to return to that particular iroint again. 

Gentlemen cite the precedent of Franco in the time of onr Rev- 
olution. Franco did not pretend or claim that that recognition of 
the independence of the United States was anything but an act 
of war. Sho was hardly at peace with England. Before sho had 
been driven off the continent of North Arncrica by the genius of 
Chatham and the military prowess of James Wolfe, and she had 
Bat, sulky and angry, biding her time during twelve years of hol- 
low and treacherous truce, and when the time came France has- 
tened to throw her weight into our scale. 

It is not true, however, as I understood my honorable friend to 
imply the other day, as I read the history of the country, that we 
should not have won our independence without the assistance of 
France. Before the French alliance our Navy, which never has 
had its due share of the credit of the Revolutionary war, had 
driven the rate of marine insurance in the Mediterranean Sea on 
English vessels and cargo up to 28 per cent. England could have 
maintained the land war, France or no Franco, for a hundred 
j-ears but for that; and it was that which induced the merchants 
of Liverpool and London to compel George III and Lord North to 
make peace. 

Our Navy in the time of the Revolution, as I said, never has had 
its due credit. Why, Mr. President, the State of Massachusetts 
alone had at sea in the Revolutionary war more men in ships of 
war and in privateers than the whole of all the rest of the States 
of the Union put together had on land, in addition to furnishing 
largely more than her quota of tho land forces. 

Mr. President, we want to gain and wo want to keep in this 
struggle into which wo are about to enter the syxnpathy of the 
civilized world, and wo can only keep it by maintaining tho path- 
way marked out for us by tho law of nations. If we depart in 
dealing with Spain from the accepted traditions and rules of in- 
ternational law, especially if wo depart from those rules which 
we have affirmed over and over again during our own history, we 
can not blame them if they shall sympathize with Spain for de- 
parting from them also. If we put the issue on any doubtful 
ground, we make tho cause of Spain the cause of every European 
Government that has got a colony in another continent or in an 
island adjacent to another continent. We do not need to be do- 

Earting from tho rules of international law. What wo have in 
and we shall know how to do lawfully and offectivoly. 
Another thing. Senators talk about rccogniy.ing tho insurgent 
republic. Is that insurgent republic tho people of Cuba? The 
Senator from Ohio [Mr. Forakeu] and, I believe, tho committee 
in their report both state the number of the people of Cuba who 
sjonpathizo "with tho insurgent government. Tho committee 
states it as a third of tho people of the island, and tho Senator 
from Ohio stated it at 4<>0,0L>U. Now, although wo may all sympa- 
8S39 



10 

thize, as we all do sjinpathize, with the gallantry of those insur- 
gents, with the courage and leadership of Gomez, with the endur- 
ance and the devotion which is willing to give life and everj-- 
thing which makes life dear for the liberty of Cuba, by what right 
can you stand in the face of the nations of the earth and say that 
jou will recognize as the lav/ful government of Cuba a comuiu- 
Siity which the Senator from Ohio, in some sense the organ of the 
committee, and the chairman of the committee in his report tell 
us amounts to but a third of the inhabitants of that island? 

Mr. STEWART. The Senator from Ohio [Mr. Foraker] is 
not here, but I did not understand him to make that statement. 

Mr. HOAR. I will look in his speech and find if he did not. 

Mr. STEWART. I imderstood the Senator from Ohio to say 
that there were only 400,000 within the military lines. 

Mr. HOAR. That is not what he said at all. 

Mr. STEWART, I do not think the Senator from Ohio said 
that of those who sympathized with the insurgents there were 
but 400,000. 

Mr. HOAR. Perhaps we had better find what the Senator from 
Ohio said. I had somewhere marked what he said about the 
400,000. 

Mr. HAWLEY. Here it is. 

Mr. HOAR. The Senator from Ohio said: 

They control absolutely more than one-half of that territory. Moi-e than 
400,(X«— 

That is it- 
More than 400,000 of the population of the island recognize no government 
except only their civil government. 

Now, what has become of the other 1,100,000? 

Mr. STEWART. If the Senator will take the context, he will 
find the Senator from Ohio spoke of those in the walled cities. 

Mr. 50AR. The Senator from Ohio said a great many other 
things with which I am not dealing now. I am dealing with the 
estimate which that Senator gave of the number of Cubans, the 
1,500,000 people, who recognize that government themselves. 
Where are the other 1,100,000? The Senator said nothing about 
walled cities. He was speaking of the number of Cubans who 
recognize no government but the civil government of the insur- 
gents. 

Mr. DANIEL. Mr. President 

Mr. CHANDLER. Will the Senator from Massachusetts allow 
me to read from the testimony of General Lee? 

Mr. GALLINGER. I will say to the Senator from Massachu- 
setts that a very largo part of the people sympathize with the 
Cuban cause even in that part of the island where the insurgents do 
not hold the territory. 

Mr. TILLMAN. Over 200,000 of them are dead. 

Mr. CHANDLER. Will the Senator from Massachusetts allow 
mo to say one word? I wish to read from Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's 
testimony before the Committee on Foreign Relations, which will 
give the Senator the information he wants. Will the Senator 
allow me to do that? 

Mr. HOAR. Certainly. 

Mr. CHANDLER. General Lee was asked by Senator Fora- 
ker : 

What percentage of the population of the island is Cuban? 

Coiisul-General Lee. About one million five or six hundred thuu.sand peo- 
ple. About one-third of those are negroes. Take off bOO.OM and that will 



11 

leave 1,000,000. the Cubans beiiig out of that l,t*x\om), all cxoept abouJi 
3U0 000 

Senator Fon.\KF.R. Abnut Tit per cent? .„Y,f.Yn 

ruiTisuiaoncml Lee. Yes: I think all but abont .Kfl.OOO. 

Semlor FouakeIi Aro all the Cubans friendly to the insurgents? 

Consulti.Ticral Lee. I never saw one who was not. 

Senator Fukakeu. They arc all friendly to them.' 

ConsulGonoral Lee. Yes. 

Mr HO \R. '^iv. Presiaeut, I kuovz Cubans myself vrlio aro 
tborouglily fi-ienaiy to tho cause of tlie insui-geuts, but who tlo 
not desire their government to be estabhdbea. 

Mr. FRYE. Will the Senator from Massachusetts aUow me to 
interrupt him? 

Mr. HOAR. Certainly. .^ n i , f.. fi,» 

Mr FRYE. The Senator from Massachusetts alludoo to tho 
Senator from Ohio as to a certain extent being the organ of the 
committee. Ho is in no sense tho organ of the committeo on 
the (luestion of the recognition of tho Cubans as a republic. 

Mr HO \R I had somewhere marked tho statement about tho 
proportion of people in Cuba who favor tho rec;o.gnition of tho 
insir-ents" government made by the committeo, which I shall ask 
leave°to quote in tho Record. It is this: , , ^ ^, ^. , 

The insurccntshokl tbo eastern portion of tho island to the practical ox- 
ch^ion^ Spain Thi? possession extends over one body of territory com- 

^iten.^tl\"mTnS^y siaiifo^hepa" f nl inhabitants of the western por- 

V^lToAhovov^^^ouot rhols^nd.' VhaVthirdof tho population r-y« t^Yf^ 
to tbem servOT in their armies, and in every way supports and is loyal to 
thc^Thi^skuationhL existed over since tlic lirst few mouths of tho war. 
Mr President, I was about to say, however, that thi3 does not 
seem' to me to be practically so important as it seems to some 
gentlemen who have dealt with it, because the moment wo are at 
war the moment wo choose to exercise armed force and con- 
straint upon the people of Spain, we are then, by every rule ot 
international or ioral law, at liberty to ally ourselves with any 
nsSumentaUty we choose to use. So, after all it is a question 
of what is to happen twenty-four hours beforehand or twenty- 

^° YouTave\h?oM5ortunity to keep within the acknowledged prin- 
ciples of international law, the precedents of your own history, 
and have unity in dealing with this matter, or, for the sake of 
casting an imputation upon tho President of tho United States 
fargely, to adopt a different policy; and the moment this process 
of fntervention begins and war follows, if it do follow, we shall 
then have tho right by every rule of law to ally ourselves with 
any instrumentaUty. If the people of Ireland, if tho people of 
Sussex if the people of tho Isle of Man, or of Guernsey were in 
rebellion against England, and we went to war with her, we should, 
of course, extend the hand to them as allies and cooixirators. 

Mr President, there is another matter in which I do not agree 
with "the honorable Senator from Ohio [3Ir. FokakeuJ or tho 
honorable Senator from Kentucky FMr. Lixd.=;ay] , and with great 
rSpect to both tho.se Senators-ani no man values more highly 
their abilitv or their patrioti.sm-1 am sorry they said it. I do not 
believe that the man who enters a house to put out a fire becomes 
legally responsible for every mortgage on the house, and 1 do not 
believe that a policeman who enters a disorderly house to subdue 
a riot or a tight, even if he has to take tho proprietor into custody, 

3233 



12 

becomes liable for every debt which the proprietor may have in- 
curred. I do not think if we take Spain into custody, if we put 
her off the Island of Ciiba neck and heels, that we are in the least 
responsible for any mortgages she may have undertaken to put 
on the island. 

Mr. MASON. Will the Senator from Massachusetts allow me 
to make a suggestion? 

Mr. HOAR. 1 will yield to the Senator. 

Mr. MASON. I do not care to interrupt the Senator, but I 
thought the illustration which he has made as to one entering a 
burning house should in all fairness have been carried to its legiti- 
mate conckision. 

Mr. HOAR. I beg that the Senator will not interrupt me to 
do BO. 

Mr. MASON. I wish to ask the Senator, after a man who 
enters a burning house has extinguished the lire, if he sets up 
ownership and says he will decide who shall run the house there- 
after, whether he does not then incur responsibility? 
^ Mr. HOAR. Nobody proposes to set vip ownership and to pre- 
scribe who shall run that house hereafter. I have not heard such 
a proposition, certainly not from my honorable friend from Illi- 
nois [Mr. Mason] , and, as I said, I think the only effect of that 
utterance of those two eminent Senators to whom I have referred 
will be to give to some foreign government, or some foreign banker, 
or broker, or stock .iobber'a chance to make a claim against this 
Government. I\Ir. President, it is a pretty fine distinction be- 
tween our liability if we go in there and turn Spain out without 
first recognizing the insurgent government, and our liability in 
case we go in there and turn Spain out and do first recognize the 
insurgent government. 

I do not think the hairsplitting metaphysics of my honorable 
friend from Kentucky or the exuberant eloquence of my honora- 
ble friend from Ohio will ever make the publicists or the investors 
of mankind to see the distinction between those two cases. What 
thsy state will be held and will amount in the eyes of mankind 
to throwing the gi-eat authority of those two Senators on the side 
of a claim to be made hereafter if we do anything in Cuba by 
way of intervention; and an utterance of that kind in debate is 
another argument for the opinion of those who think such discus- 
sions should be in executive session and not in open session. 

Mr. President, there is another thing. As I said, the insur- 
gents have many titles to our sympathy, and they have it. I do 
not suppose there is a man within the sound of my voice whose 
heart has not been stirred by the noble and gallant story of this 
struggle for freedom. They are struggling for freedom. They 
are brave and unyielding. There is another thing I like in them, 
and I presume the Senator from Kentucky likes it also: It is well 
understood that the aspiration of Gomez is for a black republic in 
the West Indies. If he should get control of Cuba, and if Haiti 
and San Domingo join him. and perhaps Puerto Rico, he aspires to 
give an example to mankind where the men of the colored race 
may rule themselves as equals socially and politically, and in all 
other ways in freedom and in honor; and for one, I say. and I hope 
my friend from Kentucky will say, Amen. 1 bless him and I 
honor him for that aspiration. 

But. Mr. President, the insurgents are not without fault in 
regard to the terrible condition of affairs which has grown up 



13 

in Cuba. They began that system of warfare. Among their first 
acts, long before the reconcentrado orders, was the destruction of 
every cane field and of every farm whore anything could bo raised 
for which even the owners should pay a ta.x to the Spanish Gov- 
ernment. I would not speak severely of tliem for it iu their des- 
perate struggle, but it was an introduction into the usages of war 
of a practice unknown to tho present time. Mr. President, they 
have not abandoned that system in warfare. 

I should like to have the Secretary read one testimony upon 
this subject, the testimony of a person for whose wisdom, honor, 
and integrity— if it were not ridiculous for anybody to impugn 
it — I would pledge every title of my own to the respect and confi- 
dence of my countrymen. I speak of Clara Barton. I spoke of 
her years ago as the most illustrious citizen of Massachusetts. 
Whoever else may be in doubt, she lias won all the laurels of this 
epoch — that noble, beautiful woman who leaves her comfortable 
and delightful home, where she enjoyed the society of kindred, 
the affection of friends, and the admiration of all her fellow-citi- 
zens, to go, with the Red Cross in her hand, wherever tiiere 13 
fever or sickness or siaffering, penetrating the barbarism of Tur- 
key when the missionaries failed to do so, and making her way 
into Cuba even past the cruel and bloody knives of the Spanish 
soldiery. 

The American people have had, in every generation since the 
landing at Jamestown and at Plymouth, brave soldiers and sailors. 
There has never been a war from the beginning in which the 
American flag has suffered dishonor or the glory of the American 
name been tarnished. But in this field other nations also have 
been our competitors. Military character, courage in war, have 
been found in himian annals from the beginning of time; but the 
mission of tho Red Cross, with its message of peace and human- 
ity, is wholly and altogether of American origin. It is ours al- 
most exclusively. I think we may trust Clara Barton and may 
accept her evidence without hesitation. I ask the Secretary to 
read what is marked. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Faulkner in the chair). 
The Secretary will read as requested, if there be no objection. 

The Secretary read as follows: 

It is hardly possible, even with General Blanco's Litest permission, for 
Spain to ^vo all the protection she would even within her trochas. Although 
the Spanish soldier might bo controlled and might not touch the rccoucen- 
trados who are attempting to cultivate the laud, there is alwavs the native 
guerrillas to bo feared. There is whore the danger lies; it is not so much from 
the Spanish soldier. The Spanish can generally control their soldiers. All 
the reconcentrados could cultivate much land still left to them inside of the 
trochas and inside of tho forts, but as soon as they have got something 
raised, in comes tho lawless guerrilla and takes it. Great destruction has 
also come from the insurgents. Theii* policy in regai-d to that is about as 
strange and as unnatural as was the cruel policy of Spain in driving the re- 
concentrados away from their farms. 

Mr. HOAR. Mr. President, wo have tho testimony of this be- 
nevolent lady to this effect. But I do not wish to be misunderstood. 
The fact that both parties are in some degree to blame foi these 
horrors does not in the least affect our right and our duty to stop 
them. They exist in an island over which Spain claims autiiority, 
and by her o^nti logic she must admit either that she herself I3 
guilty of them or that her subjects, as she calls them, are guilty 
of them, she being unaljle to prevent them. So that I conceive 
it makes no difference iu the right or tho duty of the Ams.Tican 

3230 



14 

people to deal with this transaction, and I only cite this e\'idence 
of Miss Barton as showing the reason why we should hesitate just 
now at the recogniti(jn of tho insurgent government. 

What should we do, Mr. President? I think we should not be- 
gin by quarreling amongst ourselves and by slapping the Presi- 
dent of the United States in the face. 1 think we should not be- 
gin by aiming to make party capital out of this transaction. I 
agree entirely with my honorable friend the Senator from Min- 
nesota [Mr. Davis] in his admirable and powerful statement of 
international law as to the right of intervention. He has summed 
up the authorities on one side, and to some extent on both sides, 
and he has come to the conclusion — and I will ask leave to make 
an extract or two from it — that the writers on international law 
who declare that there is a lawful international right of inter- 
vention to stop horrors of this kind have the better reason on 
their side. In that opinion I entirely concur with him. The 
chairman says in his report: 

The conflict of opinion and definition among the jurists upon the subject 
of intervention is very great. Some of them deny its existence as a right 
under any circumstances, excepting of self-defense against an imminent peril, 
while other writers of ecjaal authority maintain the validity of its assertion 
as a right for causes which may be inconsistent with that great foundation 
principle of international law, the equal and inviolable sovereignty of states. 

The extremes of these opinions are represented by Guizot and Arntz. The 
former declai'es that "no state has the right to intervene in the situation or 
Internal government of another state, except only when the interest of its 
own safety renders such intervention indispensable." 

Arntz maintains that the right of intervention exists: 

1. "When the institutions of one state violate or threaten to violate the 
rights of another state, or when such violation is the necessary consequence 
of its institutions and tho impossibility of an orderly coexistence of states 
results therefrom." 

2. " Vv'hen a government, acting entirely within the limits of its preroga- 
tives of sovereignty, violates the riglits of humanity, whether by measures 
contrary to the interests of other states or by excess of injustice and cruelty 
which deeply wounds public morals and civilization. 

'■ The riglJt of intervention is a legitimate one, because, however impor- 
tant may be the rights of sovereignty and independence, there is one thing 
of still greater importance, and that is the law of humanity and human so- 
ciety, which ought not to be outraged." 

Between these extremities of opinion the differences among the publicists 
are exceedingly various and irreconcilable. Professor Hall, in his work on 
International Law (:kl edition, page 288, note 1), in con.sidering the opinions 
of modern international jurists who touch upon humanitarian intervention, 
eays that "the treatment which the subject receives from them is merely 
fragmentary, notice being taken of some only of its grounds, which are usu- 
ally ai)proved or disapproved without very clear reference to a general prin- 
ciple." 

Vattel (liv. 1, chapter iv, section 56) considers it permissible to succor a 
people oppressed 1)y its sovereign, but does not appear to sanction any of the 
analogous grounds of intervention. Wheaton (Elem., part 11, chapter 1. sec- 
tion Vi), Bluntschli (section 478), Mamiani (page 80), give the right of aiding 
an opjjressod race. 

Heflter (section 46), while denying the right of intervention to repress 
tyranny, holds that so soon as a civil war has broken out a foreign state may 
assist either party engaged in it. Calvo (section 166) and Fiore (1,446) think 
that states can intervene to put an end to slaughter. 

Vattol says. Book II, Cbapter IV, top page 157, "As to those monsters who, 
under the title of sovereigns, render themselves the scourges and horror of 
the human race, they are savage beasts, whom every brave man may justly 
exterminate from tho face of the earth. 

"All antiquity has praised Hercules for delivering the world from Antaeus, 
a Busiris, and a Diomede." 

If these opinions state the correct rule, as we believe they do, the right of 
intervi'iition by the United States in the present instance is indubitable. 
Tlioy are, liowever, controverted liy other publicists of great eminence. It 
is possibly correct to say as to this conflict of opinion th.at this portion of in- 
ternational law is, though opei'ative in certain cases, in that formative and 
progressive condition of develo])nient by which many benign principle.?, 
though formerlj- contested, have at last become firmly established. 
oS39 



15 

I shall not nntlertnko to detain the Senate by reciting the fa- 
miliar, vet ten-ible, story which is tokl in the consoliu* reports. 
If there ho no objection, I will also include as a part of my re- 
marks a few extracts from the nports of onr diflerent consuls 
which have been communicated to the Senate and printed. [See 
Appendix.] 

The PKESIDING OFFICER. That order will be made, if there 
be no objection. The Chair hoars none. 

Mr. HOAR. I agree further with the President of the United 
States when he says in a sentence brief and compact, as becomes 
the head of a great nation making a great statement to the world, 
but which can not be misunderstood — 

This long trial h.is proved that tlie object for which Spain has -waged tho 
war cau uot be attained. 

]Mr. President, that means, as I understand it, that in order to 
restore peace in that island, the continuance of the flag of Spain 
over tho Island of Cuba is an object impossible of attainment. If 
that be true, then any intervention on our part conducted by the 
President, if it is to accomplish the object at which we aim, must 
directly, and as soon as may be, expel the authority of Spain from 
that island, and in that belief I have no doubt we are all agreed. 
It is in view of that fact that the President goes on to ask leave 
to use the forces of the Navy and Army to restore peace. It is a 
peace, in other words, which can only exist and be consistent with 
the expulsion of the Spanish flag from Cuba. So our intervention 
can only accomplish its end by compelling the entire withdrawal 
of Spain from the island. So far as Spain has made this necessary, 
she is responsible for it; so far as the insurgents have made it 
necessary, they are, or they were, Spanish subjects, whom she 
can not conti-ol, and Spain, so long as she is there, can not pre- 
vent it. and we who can prevent it must in-event it. 

Mr. President, I find no difficulty where my honorable friend 
the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Lindsay] and my honorable 
friend the Senator from Washington [Mr. TrnxER] find difficulty, 
and where my honorable friend the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Foit- 
aker] finds a doubt, in authorizing the President to do a particu- 
lar act of international force unless that be preceded by a declara- 
tion of war. Take a familiar case in our history, that of the 
Algerian captives, where so many of our merchantmen and sailors 
were taken by Algiers, during Mr. Madison's Administration I 
think it was. , , x, • -. 

Does anybody here doubt that Congress might have authorized 
President Madison to dispatch a naval force to Algiers and rescue 
those captives and compel their delivery up, and stop there? I 
imagine that proposition will not be controverted. It depends on 
the other side, then, whether they will take that as an act of war. 
If we authorize the President to put Spain out and restore peace to 
that island and Spain shall get out, there will be no war, and it is 
not necessary to declare war; or if he puts her out and she con- 
cludes that .she can not help herself and does nothing further, 
there will be no further war, and it is not necessary to declare 
war. 

Mr. President, the Executive of the United States has frequent 
occasion to do acts of this kind when Congress is not in session. 
How many instances of international force have been necessary 
in the ordinary protection of American citizenship abroad or on 
the high seas which the other party may take as an act of war if 

o239 



16 

It chooses, but which the President has a constitutional right and 
duty to do whether or not war has been previously declared? 
Suppose Austria had gone a little further and Commodore Ingra- 
ham had resisted the attempt to retake Martin Koszta by force 
Fijd the President of the United States had sustained him in it. 
Does anybody claim that is a declaration of war, or will any 
American claim that it is not within the lawful and constitu- 
tional power of the President to do it? Austria might have 
treated it as an act of war. 

Take the very familiar power committed to the President, that 
of the recognition of the independence of a foreign government, 
which he does in time of peace, so far as this country is concerned, 
or he does when Congi-ess is not in session. The other side may 
take that as war or not, as they see tit. It is very often one of 
the most hostile of acts. So I find no difficulty there. 

Mr. President, I am therefore prepared to support the resolu- 
tions of the House, if I have correctly interpreted them. I should 
like a little better the form which has been drawn ujj. I under- 
stand, by the honorable Senator from Colorado [Mr. Teller]. 
It appeared in the papers, and I suppose I violate no propriety in 
saying that it appeared with his consent or his authority. I like 
that, which I think is a perfect expression of the limits and the 
extent to which it is necessary for us to go, and I think v.'hen we 
go that far all other things will be added to us and all other things 
will be added by the inevitable and inexorable logic of events that 
are desired by the friends of freedom in Cuba. I have spent this 
time because I thought it was due to a brave soldier, to an honor- 
able American patriot, and to a great President that the angry 
attacks upon him which have been heard in this Chamber should 
not go without at least one voice being raised in his behalf. 

I also agree with the President and with the committee in treat- 
ing the outrage upon the Maine for our present and immediate 
purpose only as an instance and proof of Spain's incapacity to 
preserve order and civilization in the island. It vail have its 
own consideration, and they misundei'stand the American people 
who think that the consideration of any public transaction by the 
people of the United States leads to cowardice, dishonor, or weak- 
ness. It will have its own consideration, and unless the entire 
history of this ci^untry is to be forgotten the result of that con- 
sideration will be such as is creditable and honorable to American 
manhood and to American good faith. 

I believe it was a meditated act of which Spanish officials were 
probably guilty. I do not overlook Consul-General Lee's sugges- 
tion as to the possibility of bringing a torpedo in the neighborhood 
of the sliip in a boat by one or two or three men and the ship 
swinging against it. That is not the consul-general's opinion, but 
his suggestion, and I should like to put it in the language in which 
he gave it: 

Consul Genej-al Lee. I never have lieen cortain that the sulmiarine niiue 
was placed there prior to the entrance of the .Vanie into the harbor. It 
rui.tjht have been done afterwards. The ilAu'nc was anchored to a buoy by 
some little chain. A ves.sel swinging around that way sometimes gets at 
various places all around the circle. When she would swin^? oft' that way, 
with the bow next to the buoy, and these boats plying about the harbor all 
the time, anybody could go pretty well in front of her on a darli night and 
drop one of these" submarme mines of 5110 pounds. They have fingers, as it 
v>'ere, and as tliebuat goes around it would touch the finger, which makes 
contact and explodes the luiue. That might have been done after the Maine 
got in there. 
o239 



17 

Senator Cullom. And not be discovered? 

Consul-Goneral Lek. Yes, sir; one or two men rowinpr quietly in ft baat 
could drop it off the stern of the l>ont on a dark ni^ht. though Sig.-sbi o Iiad 
his patrols out— I do not know what they call them on men-of-war: sentinels. 
Still, it might not liave Ix'en discovered. A bout would not have been noticed, 
because boats go tliere always. 

Senator CuLi.oM. Dav and night? 

f V.nsul-General Lek. "Yes, sir: to a late hour of the night. Tlio harbor is 
full of these little boats. A mine weighs about 500 poumls. and I supjjoso it 
would take two or three men— one man to row and probably three or four 
to handle the mine. 

Senator Cui.Lc^M. Containing 500 pounds of gun cotton? 

Senator Lodge. And the easing. 

Senator Cullom. And the casing, which weighs something more. 

But tho committee say with great force tbat sncli things are 
not found in private haiid.s, especially in a community like that 
of Havana, and that it is almost impossible to escape the conclu- 
sion that no person could have had in his possession a mine or 
torpedo capable of working that destruction without tho conniv- 
ance of Spanish ofhcials, or without gross iiogligcnco, which, 
under the circumstances, was equal to connivance. I further 
agree and believe and maintain that that being true, the Spanish 
Government is responsible for that loss and should be held re- 
sponsible. 

But everybody— the President, the consul-general, the Commit- 
tee on Foreign Relations, if I am not mistaken— acquits Blanco. 
The chairman of the committee, the Senator from Minnesota [Mr. 
Davis] , nods his head in assent. General Lee says he found Blanco 
in tears when he hastened himself to the scene of the occurrence. 
This is Blanco's dispatch: 

[Inclosure in Xo. 777.] 

Havana, February IS, ISOS. 

Mr. Consul: It becomes my painful duty to express to you my profound 
sorrow for the misfortune which occurred yesterday on board the American 
ship ^faine. I associate mvself with all my heart to the grief of tho nation 
and of the families who have lost some of their members: and upon so doiu<' 
I do not only express my personal sentiments, but I si)eak in the name of all 
the inhabitants of Havana— witnesses of the catastrophe which has afflicted 
60 many homes. 

God guard you many years. ^^^^^^ BLANCO. 

TheCoxsuL-GENEnAL of the United State.s,, 

Now. to acquit Blanco— do not let me be misunderstood— is to 
acquit Spain of direct purpose, intentional guilt, in that transac- 
tion, because he was the only medium through which tho orders 
of the Government of Spain could have gone to any subordinate 
official. I do not mean that to acquit Blanco is to acquit Spain 
of neglect. I do not mean that to acquit Blanco is to acquit her 
of ha\-ing treacherous and wicked othcials, and still less do I mean 
that to acquit Blanco is to ac(iuit her of full responsibility; but 
what I say is that if we acquit Spain of having directly, with mal- 
ice aforethought, of diabolical intent and purpose, set otf that 
mine, then the setting off of it is not an affirmative act of war, 
but is one of those acts which warrant us in seeking reparation, 
if necessary, by warlike means and instrumentalities. It does not 
create a state of war unless we choose to make war for that cause 
in and of itself; and so the committee treat it. 

If tho Maiiir stood alone, we could. I hope and believe, under 

these circumstances secure an honorable reparation for her loss 

without war. Spain has opened tho door. She has declared her 

willingness to submit, not her liability, not what reparation she 

o:.':3'j-2 



18 

Biiall make, but simply the fact how it liappened under circum- 
stances which imply that if it be ascertained that it happened 
from an external cause, she of course expects to make due repara- 
tion and to agree, as she says in advance, to accept the result. 

Mr. President, I do not agree with those gentlemen, amiable, 
honest, zealous, and patriotic as they are, who find fault with our 
honorable committee and our President for not bringing in a dec- 
laration of war on the instant in consequence of the destruction of 
the Maine. It is said — although on this I do not place so much 
stress, but as gentlemen are reviewing the past and finding fault 
with some of us, we may, perhaps, aflude to it — that there is no 
other country in the world that would allow the Maine incident to 
go three weeks without redress. That may be true, but there is no 
other country in the world which would allow itself to go un- 
armed and would maintain, with wealth and resources like ours, 
a policy for all these years which enables a fifth-rate, weak power, 
a relic of the Dark Ages, to be on an equality almost with the peo- 
ple of the United States for the first few weeks of a naval war. 

I should think my honorable and amiable friend the Senator from 
New Hampsbiro [Mr, Chandler], who does mo the honor to listen 
to me, and, I am afraid from fhe expression on his countenance, 
has done me the honor to disagree with me a good deal, would be 
rather amused when he reads the utterances and the votes of some 
of his bellicose associates and remembers how he was baffled, dis- 
appointed, and blocked in his honorable and praiseworthy attempts, 
which are the glory and crown or among the various glories and 
crowns of his honorable and useful life, by the very men who are 
now so warlike. 

I will not undertake to give names or to allude to persons, but 
I will undertake to say that if any Senator of the State of Massa- 
chusetts be charged with overcaution in hesitating to get this 
country into a naval war before she is ready, at least no Senator 
of Massachusetts ever failed to vote for the largest amount of 
money and the largest number of ships whenever the question of 
an honorable and decent Navy was at stake or whenever the ques- 
tion of proposed fortifications was up. 

Mr. President, Spain ought to be as powerless in the grasp of 
the United States as a 3-year-old infant in the grasp of his father. 

Mr. President, I expect to vote for the House resolutions, un- 
less I should have an opportunity to vote for the resolution of the 
honorable Senator from Colorado. That leads to war. There is 
no doubt about it. It will lead to the most honorable single war 
in all history, unless we except wars entered upon by brave peo- 
ple in the assertion of their o\m liberty. It leads to war. It is a 
war in which there does not enter the slightest thought or desire 
of foreign conquest or of national gain or advantage. 

I have not heard throughout this whole discussion in Senate or 
House an expression of a desire to subjugate and occupy Cuba for 
the purposes of our own country. There is nothing of that kind 
suggested. It is disclaimed by the President, disclaimed by the 
couimitteo, disclaimed by everybody, so far as I am aware. It is 
entered into for the single and sole reason that three or four hun- 
dred thoiisand human beings, within 90 miles of our shores, havo 
been subjected to the policy intended, or at any rate having the 
effect, deliberately to starve them to death— men, women, and 
children, old men, mothers, and infants. 

If there have been any hasty or unwise utterances of impatience 



19 

in such a cause as that, and I think there have been, they have 
been honest, brave, humane utterances. But when I enter upon 
this war. I want to enter ujiDn it with a Tinitod American people — 
President and Senate and House, and Navy and Army, and 
Democrat and Republican, all joinin^c hands an<l all marching 
one way. I want to enter upon it with the sanction of interna- 
tional law. with the sympathy of all humane and liberty-loviu.ij 
nations, with the ajiproval of our own consciences, and with a 
certainty of the applauding .iud,u;niont of history. 

I confess I do not like to think of the genius of America angry, 
snarling, shouting, screaming, kicking, clawing with her nails. 
I like rather to think of her in her august and serene beauty, in- 
spired by a sentiment even toward her enemies not of hate, but of 
love, perhaps a little pale in the cheek and a dangerous light in her 
eye, but with .a smile on her lips, as sure, determined, unerring, 
invincible as was the Archangel Michael when ho struck down 
and trampled npou the Demon of Darkness. [Applause in the 
galleries.] 

ArpEXDix. 
Mr. Lee to Mr. Daij. 
No. 710.] United States Consulate-Gexeral. 

Havana, Xovember 23, ISOl. 

* « 41 * « « « 

Fourth. The insurgents' leaders have given instructions to prevent grind- 
ing: whorever it can be done, because by diminishing the export of sugar the 
Spanish Government revenues are decreased. It will bo very diflicult for 
the 8i>anish authorities to prevent cane burning, liecauso one man at night 
can .-start a fire which will burn hundreds of acres, just as a single individual 
could ignite a Tirairie by throwing a match into the dry grass. 

I have read letters stating tliat charitable persons in the United States will 
send clothing, food, and some money to these unfortunate people, and I liave 
arranged with the Ward Line of steamers to i)rovido freo transportation 
from New York. I hope to secure the permi.ssion of the S]ianisli authorities 
here for such things to be entered free of duty. I am told, liowovor, that 
they must come consigned to the bishop of Havana. The sutl'i-rings of the 
reconcentrado class have been terrible beyond description, but in Havana less 
than in other places on the island; yet Dr. Brunnor. acting United States .san- 
itary inspector here, informed me this morning that the death rate of tho 
reconoentrados in this city was about •'iU per cent that in other places of the 
island, and when it is remembered that there liave been several hundred 
thousands of these noncombatants or paciflcos, mainly women and children, 
■who are concentrated under General Weyler 's order, some idea can be formed 
of the mortality among them. 

In this city matters are assuming better shape. Under charitable commit- 
tees large numbers of thorn have been gathered together in houses, and are 
now fed and cared for by private subscriptions, i visited them yesterday 
and found their condition comparatively good, and there will be a daily im- 
provement among them, though the lives of all can not bo saved. I wit- 
nessed many terrible scenes and saw some die while I was present. I am told 
General Blanco will give $100,1100 to the relief fund, 
lam, etc., 

FITZHUGH LEE, Consiil-Gcncral. 

[Inclosnre with dispatch No. 713.] 

Sir: Tho public rumor of the horrible state in which the reconcentrados 
of the municipal council of Havan.i were found in the fosos having reai-hed 
us. we resolved to i)ay a visit there, and wo will relate to you what we saw 
with our own eyes: 

Four hundred and sixty women and children thrown on the ground, 
heaped pellmell as animals, some in a dying condition, others sick, and others 
dead, without tlie slightest '-leanliness nor tho least heli). not even to givo 
water to the thirsty, with neither rcli>;ious nor social heli), each one dying 
wherever chance laid them, an<l for this hmiti-il nuinlx-rof reconcentrados 
tho deaths ranged lj<>tween forty ami llfty daily, giving relatively ten davs 
ot life for each iicrson, with gri-at joy to the authorities wlio seconded fatidi- 
caliy the politics of General Wtylor to exterminate tho Cuban people, tor 
32)9 



20 

tliese unhappy creatiires receivod food only after having been for eight days 
in tho fosos, if during this time they could feed themselves with the bad 
food that tlie dyins refused. 

On this first visit we were present at tho death of an old man who died 
through thirst. When we arrived he begged us, for God's sake, to give him 
a drink. Wo looked for it and gave it to him, and fifteen minutes afterwards 
he breathed his last, not having had even a drink of water for three days be- 
fore. Among the many deaths we witnessed there was one scene impossible 
to forget. There is still alive the only living witness, a young girl of 1^ years, 
whom wo found seemingly lifeless on the ground; on her right-hand side was 
the body of a young mother, cold and rigid, but with her young child still 
alive clinging to her dead breast; on her left-hand side was also the corpse of 
a dead woman holding her son in a dead embrace; a little farther on a poor, 
dying woman, having 111 her arms a daughter of 14, crazy with pain, who after 
five or six days also died, in siHtc of tho care she received. 

In one corner a poor woman was dying, surrounded by her children, who 
contemplated her iu silence, without a lament or shedding a tear, they them- 
selves being real specters of hunger, emaciated iu a horrible manner. This 
poor woman augments the catalogue already largo of the victims of tho 
reconcentration in the fosos. 

iTho relation of the pictures of misery and horror which we have witnessed 
would be never ending wore wo to narrate them all. 

It is difficult and almost impossible to express by writing the general aspect 
of the inmates of the fosos, because it is entirely beyond the line of what civ- 
ilized humanity is accustomed to see; therefore no language can describe it. 

The circumstances which the municipal authorities could reunite there 
are the following: Complete accumulation of bodies dead and alive, so that 
it was impossible to take one step without walking over them; the greatest 
want of cleanliness, want of light, air, and water; the food lacking iu quality 
and quantity what was ueccssarj' to sustain life, thus sooner putting an end 
to these already broken-down systems; complete absence of medical assist- 
ance; and what is more terrible than all, no consolation whatever, religious 
or moral. 

If any young girl came in any way nice looking, she was infallibly con- 
demned'to the most abominable of traffics. 

At tho siglit of such horrible pictures the two gentlemen who went there 
resolved iu spite of tho ferocious Weyler, who was still Captain- General of 
tho island, to omit nothing to remedy a deed so dishonorable to humanity, 
and so contrary to all Christianity. They did not fail to find persons ani- 
mated with like sentiments, who, putting aside all fear of the present situa- 
tion, organized a private committee with tho exclusive end of aiding mate- 
rially and morally tho reconcentrados. This neither lias been nor is at 
present an easy task. The great number of tho poor and scarcity of means 
make us encounter constant conflicts. This conflict is more terrible with 
the ofllcial elements, and iu a special manner with tho mayor of the city and 
the civil authorities, who try by all moans to annihilate this good work. Tho 
result of the collections are very insignificant if wo bear in mind the thou- 
sands of people who sulfer from tho reconcentratious; but it serves for somo 
consolation to see that in Havana some 1.59 children and 84 women are well 
cared for in tho asylum erected in Cadiz street, No. 83, and 93 women and 
children are equally well located in a largo saloon erected for them in the 
second story of the fosos, with good food and proper medical assistance, as 
also everything indispensable to civilized life. 

According to the information which wo liavo boon ablo to acquire since 
August until tho present day, 1,7U0 persons have entered the fosos proceed- 
ing from Jaruco, Campo Florido, GuanalK), and Tapaste, in the Province of 
Havana. Of these, only 243 are living now and are to bo found in Cadiz 
street— 83 in the saloon already mentioned and til in the Quinta del Key and 
the Hospital Blercodes, the whole amounting to about o!)~, and of these a 
great many wdl die on account of -the great sufferings and hunger they have 
gone through. 

From all this wo deduct that the number of deaths among the reconcen- 
trados has amounted to 77 per cent. 



Mr. Lee to Mr. Day. 
No. 733] United States Consulate-General, 

Havana, December 7, 1S07. 
*♦*♦♦*♦ 
I am informed an order has been issued in some parts of the island sus- 
pending the distribution of rations to reconcentrados. » • * The condition 
of these i)eoplo is simjily terrible. 

1 inclose herowitli an oflicial copy of the comparative mortality in Havana 
for the six month.-) ending November 30. It will be perceived that there has 
3339 



21 

been a gi'oat increase In the death rate, nud without adequate means in the 
future to prevent it the mortality will increase. I hear of much suffering 
in the Spanish hosi)itals for want of fixnl and amonfftho Spanish soldiers. 
• * * I hear alsi> that the Spanish merchant-^ in siano parts of tlio i.slaud 
are plaeine their istablishments in the names of l'or(•i^;n^•rs in order to avoid 
their provision'* iH'iuK' purchased on credit by the military administration, and 
that the Spanish army is sulVerint; much from sickness and famine, and that 
a great deal of money is needed at once to relievo their conditii^ii. In some 
parts of the island. 1 am told, there is scarcely any food for soldiers or citi- 
zens, and that even cats are used for food purposes, selling at 3() cents apiece. 
It is a fair inference, therefore, to draw from the esistint' conditi<ms that 
it is not possible for the Governor-General of this island to relieve the pres- 
ent situation with the means at his disposal. ♦ * » 

Mr. Lee to Mr. Day. 
Ko. 727.] United States ConsclateGener.vl, 

Ituvana, IXccmbisr 1.',, 1S07. 

Sin: I have the honor to report that I have received information that in 
the province of Havana reports show that there have lieen Idl.oiio "recou- 
centradns," and that out of that .'■)™',()00 have died. Of the said IdHKY), 3»',000 
were children. This e.xcludes the city of Havana and seven other towns 
from which reports have not vet been made up. It is thouKht that the total 
number of reconcentrados in ^lavana province will amount lol")0,()(i(), nearly 
all women and children, and that the death rate among their whole number 
from starvation alone will bo over 50 per cent. 

For the above tiumber of reconcentrados $12,.'jnO, Spanish silver, was set 
aside out of the SUO.tKK) ajipropriated for the purpose of rdieviu!,' all the ro- 
concentrados on the island. Sevcntylivo thousand of tlio l."y),(«K) maybe still 
living, so if every dollar appropriated of the $l:.'.r)(K) reaches them the distri- 
bution will average about L cents to a person, which, of course, will bo rap- 
idly exhausted, and as I can hear of no further succor being afforded, it is 
easV to perceive what little practical relief has taken place in the condition 
of those poor people. 

Mr. Lee to Mr. Day. 
Ko. 742.] ' United States Coxsulate-Gexeral, 

JIavana, January $, 1S03. 

Sir: I have the honor to state, as a matter of nublic interest, that the "re- 
concentrado order" of General Weylor, formerly Governor-General of this 
island, transferred about 4(.K),(X)fl self-supporting people, principally women 
and children, into a multitude, to be sustained by the contributions of others 
or die of starvation or of fevers, resulting from a low ])hysical condition and 
being massed in largo bodies without change of clothing and without food. 

Their houses were burned, their fields and plant Dods destroyed, and 
their live stock driven away or killed. 

I estimate that probably 200,0(X) of the rural population in the Provinces of 
Pinar del Rio, Havana, Matanzas, and Santa Clara have died of starvation or 
from result.ant causes, and the deaths of whole families almost simultane- 
ously or within a few days of each other, and of mothers praying for their 
children to bo relieved of their horrible sufferings by death, are not the 
least of the many pitiable scenes which were ever present. In the Provinces 
of Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba, where the "reconcentrado order'* 
could not be enforced, the great mass of the people are self-sustaining. 



Mr. Lee to Mr. Day. 
No. 740.] United States Consulate General, 

Havana, January IS, 1S03. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith some statistics sent me about 
the mortality in the town of Sant.a Clara, the caiiital of Santa Clara Prov- 
ince, situated about :£{ miles south of Sagua, whi'-h numbers some H.O'O 
inhabitants. It will be noticed that there were .'),4s!" deaths in that town in 
the seven years previous to ls'»7. which included 1.417 in one year, from an 
epidemic of yellow fever, while in lWt7, owing to the concentration order, 
there were 0,"J.h1; the concentration order went into effect in February. 

In that year, 1SU7. the month's death I'ato ff)r January was 7S, but in Feb- 
ruary, the lirst month of reconcentration, there were HI, and there has been 
a gradual increase since, as you will see, until in Deceml)er. l.Mi", the number 
of deaths was l.oll. I refer to this as a specimen of the mortality on this 
island in con.sefjuenr-e of tlio "rocoucentrauo order "of the lato Captain and 
Governor General, Weyler. 

I am, etc., FITZHUGII LEE, Consul-Gem rat. 

3239 



OO 



[Inclosure in No. "iC] 

STATISTICS OF DE^^TU RATE IN SANTA CLARA. 

(A town of 11,000 inhabitants.) 



IM'l . 
1S33 . 
WXi. 

isyi. 

Ib'JJ. 



578 
7:.'() 
5!t6 
CIO 
(ii>7 
873 



1896 (epidemic of yellow fever 
among army and Cubans} 1,417 



1807 (no epidemic) . 



(1,193 more than in seven previous years.) 

Concentration order in February, ISOl— Monthly death rate. 



January 78 

February (concentration) Ill 

March. <i>5 

April 534 

May 5.T9 

Jiine 531 

July - ti55 



August — 
September. 

October 

November. 
December . 



Total... 
Sample month, December, 1807. 



5. 489 
G,9S1 



615 
630 

i,n;j7 

l,Uli 
6,9S1 



iNuraber of Number of 
deaths. patients. 



Civil Hospital.- 

Military Hospital 

San Lazarus Hospital 
Buried in poor carts. 

Buried by family 

Prison 

Total 




Ko. 95.] 



Mr. Brice to Mr. Day. 

CONSUI-ATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

Matanzas, I\'ovember 17, 1S07 



Starvation.— 'No relief as yet afforded the starving thousands in this prov- 
tace. Sevei'al days ago an order from Captain Gin was given municipal 
authorities to issue rations and clothing, but no attention is paid the order. 
******* 

Death rate in this city over 80 persons daily, and nearly all from want of 
food, medicine.'!, and clothing. As I writo this a dead negro woman lies in 
the street within 300yai'ds of this consulate, starved todeath; died some time 
this morning, and will lie there, maybe, for days. The misery and destitu- 
tion in this city and other towns in the interior are beyond description. 

A general order has been issued allowing reconcentrados to return to the 
country, but the restrictions placed in order ai-o such as to practically pro- 
hilnt. "if they went, wliat can they do without money, food, or shelter? 
Only those who can obtain employment on sugar plantations can live. In- 
surgents say no one will be allowed to gi'ind in Province of Matanzas. The 
situation is indeed deplorable, and I am free to say no real help can be ex- 
pected from Spanish Government, and the fate of the remaining reconcen- 
trados is slow, lingering death from starvation. 



No. 97.] 



Mr. Brice to 2Ir. Day. 

Consulate of the United States, 

Matanzas, December 17, 1S97. 



Concenfrodos.— Relief offered these and other poor people by Spanish 
aiithorities is only in name. I have personally visited (on several occasions) 
head masters of distributing stations. Two thousand rations were given out, 
for a few days only, to 8,U(iO persons. * ♦ * There are more than 13,000 
starving people in this city to-day. One out of 4 (or C) received the following 
ration: 3 ounces rice, 1} ounces ta,ssajo (jerked beef), and sometimes a small 
piece of bread, per diem. Imagine starving people being relieved by such 
8239 



rations! Even this rfttion of food has been discontinued siaco 11th instant. 
Death rate has diuiiuished somewhat; now about W daily. There arc less 
people to die. 

The sc.;nos of misery and distress daily observed are bevond belief. Hero 
Isouooutcf ihundreds: In a family of sevontotn livinR in an old limekiln, 
njiperpart of city limitj». all were found doad except three, and thev barely 
alive. ♦ • • A few of the strongest of these peo))lo have been sent out to 
supar plantations, which expect to prind. They pet ;«) cents per day and board 
themselves. General Blanco's oitler allowing reconceutrailos, owners of 
plantations and farms, to return and cultivate croj)s, etc.. is inoperative and 
of no avail. Several of our American citizens, owners of land, have repeat- 
edly asked the civil governor of this iirovinco for ])ermissiou to return to 
their hi>mes, and in every case refused or restrictions imposed making it im- 
possible to comply with. 

*»•♦••• 
I am, etc., A. C. BRICE, United States Consul. 



Mr. Br ice to 3fr. Day. 
1^0. 90.] Consulate of the U.mted States. 

Matuiizas, Janunry li, 1S03. 
Sir: I have the honor to report the following concerning destitute Amer- 
ican citizens, Alatanzos Province: 

***♦•♦♦ 
Up to Sunday, January 9, 1S9S, weeklv rations of food liave been regularly 
Issued, also medicines for sick, and altlioutrh there has been more or less 
hardships and suffering for want of clotbini,', shelter, etc. (which we were 
not allowed to supply), none of our people have suffered for food or medi- 
cine. 



. . trap to starve. We have 

fifteen or eighteen families (American reconcentrados) who own property in 
the countrv, and were they allowed to go to their homes, could make a good 
living. All these have begged and pleaded with authorities (under Blanco's 
order) to go, and in every ca.se refused. 

Since the ->4th of May, 1^97, to December 20, 1897, seven months, we have 
given food and medicines and relief to an average of 30.j persons. American 
citizens, at a cost of 5<<,175. 48 Spanish gold. This amount received from Ha- 
vana on account of Cuban relief fund to date. Wo require a little over $«I0 
(lulls not rendered) to settle last two weeks' ration bills and three weeks' 
znedlcine. 

••*♦*♦* 
I am, etc., A. C. BRICE, United States Consul. 



Mr. Hyatt to Mr. Day. 

No. 413.] COXSULATE OF THE U.VITED STATES, 

Santiago de Cuba, December ii, 1S97. 
• ••**«* 

As I write a man is dying on the street in front of my door, the third in a 
comparatively short time. 

Very respectfully, PULASKI P. HYATT, 

United States Consid. 

Mr. Hyatt to Mr. Day. 
No. 41.J.] Consulate of the United States, 

Santiago de Cuba, December 21, HOT. 

Sir: I respectfully report that sicknessand the death rate on this island is 
apiialling. Statistics make a grievous showing, but come far short of the 
truth. 

The principal dise.ise is known by various names. Calentura, baludol 
fever, la eri])ix\ etc., is thought by lOiy.siciaiis to bo brought on by insufli- 
cient food. I know s <ino that are attackt-d that have plenty. The.se, how- 
ever, usually make a good recovery, while the others die or make very slow 
recoverv. 

The three Rivery brothers. American citizens and owners of coffee, cocoa, 
and orange groves, are about to return to their places. Tliey are absolutely 
penniless, and say they would have surely starved but for the food i.ssued 
from this consulate. I shall continue to su])ply them with food, and i.ssue a 
months rations of such food as rice, beans, codlish, crackers, etc , as their 
2^9 



24 

homes arc over 30 miles away. I have made myself, personally (not my Gov- 
ernment), responsible for the transportation of themselves, their families, 
and goods, as it seemed desirable to get them on their estates as soon as pos- 
sible. 

Dr. Henry S- Caminero, United States sanitary inspector, has just in- 
formed me that there are in this city over l-JW persons sick in bed, not 
counting those in military hospitals. This is at least 35 per cent of the pres- 
ent pfipulation. Quinine, the only remedy of avail, is sold ten times higher 
than in the States. 



Mr. Jova to Mr. Day. 

No. 2G1.] CONSUIiATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

Sci(jua la Grande, November 11, 1S07. 

In the meantime the reconcentrados, the majority innocent beings, who 
have had, and even no\fr have, no notion of the cause of this revolution, who 
had no more asjjiration than to till their little farms, continue perishing. 
It i.s difficult, it may bo said almost impossible, to be able to describe the 
extcu.sion and intensity of such tremendous suffering, of such iniquitous, un- 
just, and sinful imposition, to annihilate thousands of women and children. 
If this Godless combination should be accurately represented, it would seem 
an exaggeration induced by stirred fellow-feeling. 

With sensibility in the heart moving among them, the unceasing crowd of 
famished beggars, one can scarcely do more than commiserate the unde- 
served misfortune. To express, to delineate the afflictions, the anguishes 
witnessed atevery step, would re<:iuire much to write, and no lavish of colors 
could approach the reality to fiction. No history in the world, ancient or 
modern, can be compared an instant to this frightful, dreadful suffering. 
Perhaps civilization lias not seen the like of it. 
1 have, etc., 

JOHN F. JOVA, Vice-consul. 

Mr, Barker to Mr. Daij. 

No. 2Gi,3 Consulate of the United States, 

Sagua la Chande, November 20, 1507. 
******* 
The guerrillas have already started their merciless warfare, having within 
the past week killed two "presentados" who had in good faith surrendered 
and gone to work on the Amei-ican-owned estate "Victoria," repeating the 
act upon three insurgents who had surrendered to the local guerrillas of 
Sagua. 



Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 

No. 200.] Consulate of the United States, 

Sagua la Grande, November 2ii, 1S97. 

Sir: With reference to the distress and deaths in this island, I beg to sub- 
mit the following relative to thi.s— Santa Clara— province. 

As has been my custom for the past five months, I have just made the 
monthly trip of investigation in this consular district, embracing a larg(M)arfc 
of the territory of the province. Appended is the official mortality ii. c of 
each of the judicial districts comprising the province known as " Ciuco Vil- 
las " (five towns; from January 1 to November 15, 1897, inclusive, viz: 



Santa Clara 27,900 

Sagua 16,583 

Cienfuegos 11,263 

Remedies 11,415 



Sancti Espiritus 5,483 

Trinidad 4,946 



Total 80,589 



Add to this 25 per cent for the number of which no record has been 
kept. * * * I deem a conservative estimate would make the grand total 
ia),73fi deaths. 

In truth, after talking with both military and judicial officers, I regard 
this ratluT under than above the actual deaths for the period stated. Un- 
doubtedly one-half of the concentrated people have died; and to-day Spanish 
soldiers are com])anion victims to the surviving noncombatants. 

The iiicU).sod slip (inclosuro No. 1 ), showing the number of deaths, official, 
in the sinall municipal district of San Juan do la Yeriis, will give some idea of 
the rapid incre.vo from month to month, as will also the clippings (inclosure 
No. 2), cut from the local papers, show that the author! ties no longer conceal 
these fnct.s, as was done under the retired Capt:un-G<"noral. This appalling 
death roll is mute yet convincing proof of the terrible destruction of life 
unilcr the main policy pursued in attempting to subjugate the island. The 
3239 



heavens. It wonld appt^r, woop for despoiled, distressed Cnbo, for during tho 
present month tho fall of rniii has been almost phenomenal. I luive to reit- 
erate, tho authorities, howovor trroat tlio Uesiro in do so, are nttorly ht'lplesa 
to ameliorate tho tltro distress tliat must continue to iucrfiis*?. • • » 

Kolntivo to furnishing: proU'otinn to thi» mills t<) priiul, how is it po«sil)lo in 
view of tho fact that the siife^iuanl extoiuled planters in making the previous 
crop onal)led them to Rriud Uv-^s than one-third of the usual yieM. while tho 
military force availnblf toiiay is not half in numliers as at that time? 

With mo tho conviction Is firmly rooted that within sixty days 'J() ix>r cent 
of tho poi>nla<'o will ri'ach a state of craviiiij hunj^er, witliout outside aid, 
nor do I feel tliat 1 am sjjeaking chimoriaiUy when 1 include tho rank and 
file of the Siv»nish army. 

The true status. a.s viewed nt present, will boar out this opinion. Tho snf- 
feriut: amonc: tho troops, as well a-^ the roconccutrados, simply beggars por- 
trayal, while discontent ripens daily. 

1 am, etc., "WALTER R BARKER, Consul. 



Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 

No. 2T0.] COXSUI..\TE OF THE U.NTTED ST.VTES, 

Haijiia la Grande, December IJ, 1S07. 

All cfiforts so far to obtain relief by popular sulwcription have met with 
signal failure. Tho Cubans aro too poverty stricken, while tho Spaniards, 
who own tho wealth, will contributo notbincr. 

In my rcoent trip I found that the Kpauisli soldiers aro not only suffering 
for necessary food, but I was often appealed to by those pitiable creatures 
for medicine. Ono has only to look upon them tc be assured of tho needa 
complained of. 



[Confidential.] 

Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 

Coxstrr-ATE of the United States, 

Sagua la Grande, December 23, 1507. 
««««««« 

How could the situation be otherwise, since tlie island is producing abso- 
lutely nothing, save some growing cane, and at the same time completely 
exhausted of all food? ReUef alone cajibe obtained from the outer world in 
the way of charitable contributions. 

This— Santa Clara— province is capable this season of producing perhaps 
two-thirds of whatever cane might be made in the entire island. 

To grind this cano without interruption would bo the means of saving the 
lives of thousands who, without this or outside aid within the next thirty to 
fifty days, must die of actual hunger. Over a month since tho planters were 
officially advised of Spain's inability to provide protection in order to oper- 
ate their mills. This leaves tho sugar growers entirely in tho hands of tho 
Cubans in revolt as to whether they will bo allowed to grind witliout hin- 
drance or fear of total destruction of their property. I know that strict 
orders have been given to sulxn-dinate commanders under no circumstances 
must mills be permitted to grind, under penalty of violation of tho order 
destruction of property. 



[Inclosure 1 in Xo. 273.— Telegram.] 
Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 

Sagua, D<?cc»)i6er 5, 1597. 
States that food, medicine, and clothing arc rconired by more than 50,000 
persons in his consular district, and that a reliable estimate of the number 
of starving in the Sagua province is lUO,fX)0. Advises the immediate need of 
relief by supplies through Consul-General Lee at llavana, or directly hy the 
Munson Line. Says th.'it some money will bo needed, and that mumcipa) 
authorities will aid in distributing supplies sent. 

BARKER, Consul. 

Mr. Borki-r to Jwlgc Day. 
No. 2TS.] Consulate of the United States, 

tiagua la Grande, January 1,', liOS. 
Sir: 1 beg to snbrait tho following: In this consular district a reign of ter- 
ror and anarchy prevails which the authorities. l>o they so diaposcd, aro ut- 
terly ixiwcrlesit to control or In any measure subdue. 
9339 



2(5 

Aside from the stifferingr and desperation caused by the iiuparalleled des- 
titv.tion. 1 regard the situation as rapidly assuming a critical stage: and to 
Biltl tliat, as stated rc])eatedly heretofore, in no way have the autliorities de- 
] parted in fact from the policy pursued by the late (but not lamented j Gen- 
eral Wovler. 

S])anisu troops as well as the guerrillas, under the cruel chiefs Carreras, 
01avar;nta, and Lazo, continue to despoil the country and drench it with 
tlio Mood of noncombatants. Although the "'bando" of the Cajitain-General 
provides that laborers may return to estates having a garrison, last week a 
mimbor belonging on the "Sta. Ana," located within a league of Sagua, and 
o\i-ned by Mr. George Thorndike, of Newport. K. I., were driven off after 
returning, and refused i)ermit as a protection by the military commander. 
Mayor Lomo, one of the trusted officers under the Weyler regime, 
lam, etc., 

WALTER B. BARKER. 

Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 

No. 2S4.] Consulate of the United States, 

Sagitu la Grande, January 27, 1S9S. 
Sir: I beg to inform the Department that smallpox, referred to in my 
Ko. 279 of the ISth instant, has increased to an alarming extent. 

The number of cases and mortality among the " reconcentrados " is un- 
precedented throughout this consular district. 
I am, etc., 

WALTER B. BARKER, Consul 

Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 
Iso. 236.] Consulate of the United States, 

Sacjua la Grande, January SI, ISOS. 

lie 4c lie :)c :t: ijc :t' 

Over two months since two of oiir citizens notified me they had discovered 
in poss8S.sion of the local guerrillas 10 or 13 head of their horses, seized by 
said guerrillas. I addressed the military commander of Sagua, * * * ask- 
ing, upon proof of ownership, their stock to be r&stored. Nothing has been 
done; while these American citizens— both in affluence at the breaking out 
of the rebellion — are to-day dependent on charity. 

One sugar mill is running, not without interruption, with chances of mak- 
ing one-fourth of a crop. Another— just started up — was attacked j'esterday 
by a band of irfsurgonts, killing 14 and wounding 5 of the guerrillas paid by 
the estate to protect the operatives. Seven laborers were killed, the insur- 
gents leaving two of their dead. 

An adjoining estate, the ]iroperty of the British consul, was al'^o attacked, 
the growing cane burned. This precludes further attempts to grind, as men 
can not he induced to work while the insurgents roam at will over the country. 
I am, etc., 

WALTER B. BARKER, Consul 

Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 
Ko. 2SS.] Consulate of the United States, 

Sagua la Grande, February 17, 130S. 
Sir: I beg to snbmit the following: 

It is proper that I inform the Department that the ravage of smallpox has 
reached a point where the physicians, few in number, without proper means 
of treating, as well as no nurses, can not cope with it. Itiave cabled our dis- 
patch agent in New York for an additional supply of virus. 

I was informed by tiie mayor of this city only yesterday that he was just 
in receipt of a communication from the government of the province stating 
no funds to feed the starving were obtainable. In reply to my query why he 
did not send a number of them to the country, ho stated that the military 
commander refused to grant this permission, 
lam, etc., 

WALTER B. BARKER. Consul 

Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 
Ko. 291.] Consulate of the United States. 

Sar/ua la Gra)ide, March 1.', lS::iS. 

****** l|c 

From the 15th of last month, through cash donations made to this con.sul- 
ate direct, through personal appeal, I cared for 1,200 persons. By the 1st 
instant those coutributlous increased so as to enable the committee to increase 



27 

the relief list to 2.000. Thi.sWs boon mnintninod until now; but ns the Fcni, 
with 35 tons, should arrive to-morrow, the Sagua relief am bo coutiuued. 

Mr. Barker to ^fr. Day. 
IJ'o. 25)5.] Consulate ov the United States, 

Smjua la ClrantU; March If,, IS93. 
Sir: Tlio inclosed letter fn^m Mr. Valle.* of Saneti E.spiritus, whom I havo 
every rea.son to believe will not misrepresent the ea.se, tot;etlier with the 
fact that in other places 1 find I liaveunderestinintod t lie number in my juris- 
diction in need of rehef. It is therefore that I be>f to increa.se the amount 
ro(iuired, as stated in my No. 29i, of the l~'th instant, from SO to 100 tons per 
mouth. 

1 am. etc., WALTER B. BARKER, ConsxiL 

[Telegram.] 

Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 

Sagua la Gra.Mie, March S!,, 1S03. 
Dat, Washington: 

Closer investiKation di.^closo larpor number destitute than estimates sent. 
Fifty tons needful now. Distress far greater than my rejiorts show. 

BARKER, Consul. 

Mr. Barker to J/r. Day. 
No. 297.] Consulate of the United St.\tes, 

Sagua la Grande, March 21, IS^'i. (Received March 30.) 

Sir: I havo the honor to say that since forwarding my No. 291 of the 12th 
instant, wherein I gave the Department approximately the amount of food 
required for my zoi:o per month. I find many outlying— interior— villages, of 
which I had no account, neglected and in great want. To this very class, 
located in the interior towns, I havo given special attention, but it has beea 
impossiblo to care for all immediately. For instance, the relief committee to 
whom supplies were sent in Ji'anta Clara, seat of government of the province, 
inform mo to-day that in a small town near there are oOO persons in pressing 
need. 

Today I wired Mr. Louis Klopsch, of the Christian Herald and Centr.al 
Cuban Relief Committee, who is now in Havana, that 2<) tons additional re- 
quired till 1st proximo, and to know if ho could supjily this. As yet no reply 
has been received. A very largo proportion of the.so poor creatures bemg 
actually ill, other medicine than quinine is required, as also medicinal wines 
and nourishing food for them. 

I beg to inclose herewith a list of towns to which I havo and am seudiug 
supplies. There are perhaps six to eight more requiring relief. 

Mr. Barker to Mr. Day. 
No. 299.] Consul.vte of United States, 

Sagua la Grande, March .'^, I'^OS. 
Sin: I visited seat of government of this Province, Santa Clara, where I 
learned, not alouo from trustworthy persons sent out by mo for the purposo, 
but also the civil governor, that the number of persons in actual want ex 
ceeds any estimate I havo sent tho DcTiartment. The distress is simply 
heartrending. Whole families without clothing to hide nakednes.s. sleeping 
on tho bare ground, without bedding of any kind, without food, save to such 
as we havo been able to reach with i>roviHi<ni3 tent by our nol)Ie peo))le: and 
tho most distre<.sing feature is that tully 5<J per cent are ill, without medical 
attention or medicine. 



General Government of the Island of Cura, 

Jlavana, February 10, 1S03. 

Mr. Consul: It becomes my painful duty to express to you my profound 
sorrow for tho mLsfortune whu-h o<'(urred vesterrtay on board tho American 
shin .\faine. I associate mysolf with all my heart to tho gri.-f of tho nation 
and of tho families who havo lost some of their members; and upon so doing 
I do n'>t only express my personal sentiments, but 1 speak in tho name of all 
tho inhabitants of Havana— witnesses of tho catjistropho which has afflicted 
so many homes. 

God guard you many years. 

^ ^ _ RAMON BLANCO. 

Tho Conscl-General of the United States. 

• Letter referred to implores medicines and provisions. 
3239 



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